Finding My Place
by Cassandra Recarndo
Summary: Jade has come to the Valley looking for a new life, but when love comes into view, will her past come to haunt her? In this case, her past is her love, her life, and the reason for her living. Rated T for language
1. Arriving

_Go live on a farm, he says! It'll be fun he says! I'm going to kick his ass._ I think to myself as I walk into Forget-Me-Not-Valley. It was the middle of winter, and I was stupid enough to not have a coat in my two bags of luggage. But how was I supposed to know? I've lived in the middle of California my whole life, so I've barely ever felt any cold weather. Then again, I did check the weather in the Valley before I left for my flight…

There was a sudden burst of cold wind against my face, making me shiver as I walked down the long path by the entrance. Where the hell was I supposed to go anyways? My father had told me that he would meet me by his farm, but I couldn't tell where I was supposed to go through all of the snow. Squinting, I could barely make out the silhouette of a building in the distance. Sighing in relief, I picked up my bags and jogged over to it.

Warm air radiated off of the wood walls, and I could smell something like peppermint cooking inside. Knocking on the door, I rubbed my hands together, desperately trying to keep warm.

"Hello?" A voice says as a man opens the door. I can't make out the features, but his voice was deep enough to tell me he was a man.

"Is this Sunshine Ranch?" I ask, my voice shaking. I can feel my toes go numb as they become submerged in snow. "I'm supposed to meet my father today, but I can't tell where it's at."

"Marlin! Close the door! You're letting in all the cold air." A husky woman's voice calls from inside the house.

"I know, I know." He calls back, and then looks down at me. "No, this is Vesta's Ranch. Sunshine Ranch is down south."

"Damn…" I mutter, looking down the long path that he indicated to. "Okay, thanks." He nods at me and closes the door, cutting off the warm air from my skin. I sigh and start walking down the street again.

I'm Jade. Jade Jenkins to be exact. I've lived in California most of my life, like I mentioned earlier, so the country life is brand new for me. My momma died a couple years back from cancer, leaving me alone in the large state with barely enough money to get me through. Freshly out of college, I managed to get a job down in Napa Valley making wine from my degree in agriculture. Scraping through my bills, I finally got a letter from my father a month ago, telling me that he was willing to let me work on his farm for a living. Of course, I had said no at first. You see, my father was never the best at taking care of a family. That's why my mother, Celia, left him when she was eight months pregnant with me. Since then, I had no idea my father was still alive. Until a month ago, that is.

Eventually I agreed, once the government forced me out of my house. I hopped on a plane to the Valley that night, not even calling my dad to tell him I was coming. From what his letter said, I was supposed to go to his ranch Sunshine Ranch if I wanted to. So that's why I'm at where I am right now. Cold, hungry, and without a clue where I am.

Crossing over a bridge, I was suddenly pelted with a snowball from behind a tree. Feeling my face go red, I threw my bags on the ground and picked up a glob of snow. _Try that again,_ I thought,_ I dare you._ Sure enough, another snow ball came from the tree, and I quickly darted to the side, chucking my glob at the tuff of blonde hair hiding behind the bark.

"Nice shot! You're the first to fire back!" A male laughs, coming out from his hiding spot. Unlike the other male, I was able to see all of his features. He was blonde, which had snowflakes dripping off of the strands, and brown eyes dancing in amusement. Underneath the blue sweater and jeans, I could see his finely tuned muscles. I had to admit, he wasn't that bad looking, but I put on an expressionless face before he could see my attraction to him.

"Well when someone attacks me, I plan to fight back." I sneer, narrowing my eyes. "Plus, you got my stuff wet." I indicate to my luggage, covered in the shattered remains of his snow ball.

"Oh, someone's a little pessimist I see." He chuckles, walking over and picking up my luggage, brushing off the snow. "I'm Rock, and unlike you, I like to have fun."

"I'm Jade, and unlike you, I have a brain." I give him a wry smile before starting to walk away.

"Now hold on there," Rock calls, catching up to me, "Where are you going? You aren't from around here, are you?"

I round on him, glaring, "Wouldn't you like to know?"

His hand suddenly grabs mine, holding me back. "Yes, I would. I may not have a brain, as you so kindly put it, but I know that a young lady like yourself should have a place to stay for the night." My eyes go wide, and I slap him on the cheek with all my might, fuming.

"How dare you! I would never go with you even if I was confronted with a thousand swords."

"Jade, I was only saying that you don't seem to know where you're going." Rock's eyes glittered in amusement as he rubbed his cheek.

"Oh, oh…" I stutter, looking down at my luggage. "Well, for your information I do know where I'm going. I'm going to see my father, Jack Wilson, owner of Sunshine Ranch."

Rock raised his eye brows at me. "So you're the legendary Jade, huh?" He looks up and says, "Well, the ranch is right behind you, for your information."

My head snaps up and sees the large sign above the opening to what seemed like another ranch: "Sunshine Ranch: Where you can get all of your animal needs!" Muttering to myself, I start to gather all of my stuff, when I realize that Rock's hand is still holding mine. He seems to notice this too, and immediately puts his hands inside his pocket.

"Well, I'll see you around then, Jade." He says with a wink before walking off. His arm brushes against mine, and I couldn't help but smell the scent of cinnamon on him. _No, he's naïve and immature. You are not attracted to him. Focus on going to Dad's ranch._

Picking up my suitcases, I walk through the entrance to find a man walking out of the door of the large barn. His brown hair was in dark curls, surrounding his dark green eyes, which stood out the most against his tan skin. His muscles where bulging underneath the white long-sleeved shirt and overalls, obviously due to years of farming. Immediately, I don't know how, but I could tell that that was my father. It was odd, I didn't look like either of my parents, but I just figured that I would look more like them as I grew up. Guess not.

Jack turned around and spotted me, his eyes growing wide as he walked closer to me. "Jade?" He breathed. "Is that you?"

"Hello, Dad." I say, walking over to him. There was an awkward pause where we both just stood there; drinking in each other's appearance. I had a sudden feeling that I should hug, him, but as he leaned in to do so, I started walking towards his house.

"Can I get you anything?" He asks me, walking in after me. Sitting down on his double bed, I shake my head.

"I'm good, thanks. Just need to know where I'll stay."

Jack looked down at the ground, obviously hoping I wouldn't say that. "Well, you see, I was going to get your bed when I offered for you to stay with me, but since you said no… Well I didn't get it."

I blinked, pursing my lips together. "Do you have a sofa?" I ask, praying that he did.

"No, just my bed. If you like-"

"I'll just stay at the Inn until we get a bed." I say quickly. There was no way I was sharing a bed with a man I hadn't seen in eighteen years.

"I'll get it soon; I promise!" Jack says, his eyes pleading me to not leave the Valley.

"Ja- Dad, I'm staying in the valley. I'll just stay in the Inn until we get a bed. If you want, I'll go to a store nearby and get a sleeping bag so that I can sleep on the ground."

My father bit his lip, "Well we don't really have a shop…"

I froze, my expression cold. "You don't have a shop?" Not good. Shopping was my way of getting all of my anger out. Spending was my guilty pleasure, and it made me broke. "Well, what do you have?"

"We have a vender that comes on the days with a three and an eight on the end of them each month. Other than that, people walk the hour walk to Mineral Town up north to go to their shop."

I close my eyes, holding in my angst. "What day is today?"

"Today? December 19th." My father says in a soft tone. That's one thing I think I will appreciate about my dad while I'm here: he seems to know what I'm feeling.

"Well I'll stay in the Inn until the 23rd. I'll by some groceries, a bed, and winter clothes for me. Don't worry," I say, noticing his worried face, "I'll use my money on the clothes and food."

"Well… Alright. But I want you at the farm at 7:30 every day. I'll pay for your clothes and bed, along with the food, but it's coming out of your pay." Jack says, his tone stern as I pick up my bags.

"Don't worry, Dad. I'll be back tonight at dinner." I smile, kissing him on the cheek before walking out into the cold. He stood there for a moment, stunned by the sudden affection, but then nodded, closing the door behind me.

Sighing, I walk out of the farm, the cold air nipping my nose. Luckily for me, the Inn was right across from the farm, so I wasn't in the cold long. The place smelled heavily of spices and food, welcoming me in as I opened the door.

The room was covered with knick-knacks from around the world, giving it an exotic aura to it. I walked up to the front desk, ringing the bell once to announce my presence. I hear an abundance of whispering and shuffling around in the room across from the desk, and suddenly a short, Asian woman appears at the door.

"Welcome to the Inn!" She says in a piping voice. "I'm Ruby. What can I do for you?"

"I'm Jade." I smile at her, shaking her hand, "I was supposed to stay at my father's ranch, but since he lacks a bed for me, I would like to stay here for about four days."

Ruby giggles, going behind the desk and opening up a large book. "Well aren't you polite. We have a room open upstairs that recently opened up that you can stay in." As she spoke, her eyes suddenly started watering up. "Oh, pardon me for being so rude. My daughter was the one that recently left, and I still haven't quite gotten over it."

I awkwardly looked down at my luggage. "Oh, I'm sorry, m'am. I can stay in a different room if you like."

"No, it's the only one we have open. Don't worry about little old' me." She says with a smile. "I'll have my son bring you to your room." She hurries off into the side room again, and out comes Rock.

"Now, where have I seen you?" He says with a crooked smile, propping himself up on the desk with one arm.

I shake my head, sighing to myself. This was going to be a long four days.


	2. Working with a Surprise

My alarm clocked beeped at me to wake up, making me thrust my hand at it to silence it as I sat up in my bed. It was 5:00AM, and I was still tired. Groaning, I walked over to the bathroom and took a quick shower. The cold water made me have goosebumps on my skin, but it woke me up as I splashed it on my face. Drying myself off, I looked at myself in the mirror. My long, black hair was damp and wavy, making my brown eyes pop out even more than usual. Turning around, I had to smile as I remembered what a good figure I had. With curves and hips to die for, many girls envied me. All the same, I rather disliked the attention I got from boys. Hence my disliking to Rock.

Pulling my hair up in a towel, I dressed myself in a pair of jeans, a red sweater, and my large blue parka. I brushed out my now dry hair before putting on a cream hat over top of it. As I started pulling on my knee-high boots over my jeans, I heard a knock on my door.

"Jade?" I hear a groggy voice that sounded like Ruby's from the other side of the door.

"Yes?" I say, opening the door to see her in a silk kimono, holding a cup of coffee in her hands.

"Oh good, you're up. Jack had me come and wake you up to tell you to get up." She says, yawning, "I'm going back to bed now."

I chuckle at her tiredness, and follow her back downstairs. The room is chilly with cold air seeping through the door cracks, so as I pull on my gloves, I hold my jacket closer to me before opening the door. The ice cold breeze pierced at my skin like knives, so I hurried out of the Inn to save the warm air inside.

My feet plundered through the snow, each step harder to take than the last. It must have snowed an extra foot last night, because the snow is up to my ankles now as I walk into the farm entrance. Looking around, I call out, "Dad!"

"Over in the pasture!" I hear Jack yell back at me, "Hurry, the goat needs milking."

Rolling my eyes, I jog over to the fence, hopping it with ease. I see my father on the other side, milking a large brown cow with his bare hands. Looking around, I spot the goat right in front of me, speaking constantly. "Yea, yea, I know." I mutter, bending down to milk it with the pail that was lying next to it. Despite the animal moving around constantly and trying to bite my hat, I managed to get the pail full.

"Where do I put it?" I say to my father as he walks over with two pails full of milk.

"Over in the shipping bin. I'll do it today because I have to package it, but now I want you to go and feed the chickens. And later I need you to brush the horse." He says without even looking at me. Next thing I know he's gone, along with my pail. Muttering to myself, I walk over to the tool shed next to the barn, I pick up the brush and a back full of bird seed before heading off to the chicken coop.

Inside, the hens and roosters are swarming around me, nipping at my boots for the food. I keep trying to shake them off, but in the process, I manage to fall down, knocking the seeds all around the floor. "Oh well." I mumble to myself, standing up and brushing myself off, "They eat it like that anyways, I suppose." Walking around the coop, I see a small egg lying on the ground over in the corner. I bend down to pick it up, when suddenly a hen comes swooping down on me, pecking at my ear.

"Alright, alright already!" I exclaim, throwing it off. "I won't take the goddamn egg." The hen looked rather pleased with itself as it places it bottom on top of the egg, glaring up at me. I clench my fists together, holding in my anger; who knew that chickens could piss you off that much?

Walking back into the cold, I hop back into the pasture to search for the horse. To my surprise, it was already waiting by the trough, ready to be brushed. "Hello there." I say, patting its neck gently. It snorts at me, looking down at me curiously. I smile, letting it smell my hand before brushing it. The horse was rather patient with me, seeing as I fumbled and splashed the cold water in the trough at it by accident once. I managed to get it clean, and when it saw me take off the brush, I swear it sighed in relief.

"Oh come off it." I laugh, rubbing its forehead, "It wasn't that bad."

"Well how do you know?" Says a voice behind me, making me jump. Turning around to the culprit, I see a man with curly black hair leaning against the fence. His jaw is set in a frown, but the glitter in his brown eyes told me he was amused.

"Well why do you care?" I retort back, walking over to him.

His lips twitched into something like a smirk. "Someone's a smart ass." He says, his tone light and cheerful.

I fold my arms across my chest as I scan his features. He's tall, pretty muscular, and looked a heck of a lot like me. I had to admit, he was pretty good looking, too. "Someone's mysterious." I say with a lame comeback.

"I'm Marlin." He says, but doesn't offer his hand, "I thought that you would be here."

I cock my head in confusion for a moment, but then realization strikes me. "You work at Vesta's farm, right? I'm Jade."

"Right. And I just wanted to make sure you were okay."He replies, making me raise my eye brows.

"Well as you can see, I'm not dead, nor bleeding, no thanks to you."I give him a sarcastic smile before walking over to my father's house.

"Wait, Jade, can I meet you sometime at the bar tonight?" Marlin calls, rushing to my side.

I pause for a moment, taken aback by the random invitation, "Uhm. Sure?" I say in a daze.

"See you then, then."Was all I heard him say before he disappeared.


	3. Feelings? Nah!

"What do I wear?" I thought to myself as I pulled my hair up into a long ponytail. My eyes glimmered with anxiety from underneath the makeup, and I could feel my hands start to sweat. Why should I be worrying, you may ask. Well, to be honest, I didn't know either. All I knew was that I really wanted to look good when I met Marlin at the bar. Rummaging around in my closet, I decided on a pair of black dress pants and a crimson sweater to go with my heels. Looking at myself in the above my bed, I thought I looked pretty good. The pants outlined my figure nicely, while the sweater showed a nice amount of cleavage, but not so much that it made me look slutty. I pulled on my black trench coat and walked out of my room, keeping my breathing slow.

I was about to go outside when I heard a low whistle from behind me. "Where are you headed, gorgeous?" Rock's voice was light and exuberant, but as I turned to glare at him, I saw him looking slightly worried.

"To the bar." I said, opening the door, "Why do you care?"

Rock knitted his brows together, "Well aren't you going to be cold?"

I looked down at my outfit again, trying to see what he meant. I will admit, my clothes were very thin and didn't really provide warmth, so it did give him a reason to worry. "I'm fine." I said reassuringly, smiling softly, "My trench coat is very thick. I'm sure it's warm inside the bar as well."

"Do you want me to walk you there?"

I rolled my eyes at his suggestion, but the look in his eyes told me he was just making sure that I would be safe on my way over. Sighing, I nodded and started walking out into the night. Rock followed me at a slow pace, his eyes astray on the sky. It was then that I noticed that, well, Rock was fairly attractive. His blonde hair fell over his brown eyes, giving them a warm look that welcomed any girl in. I felt myself examining his facial structure, my eyes dropping down as I saw the outlines of the muscles in his shirt.

He must have noticed me looking, because when I looked back up, his eyes were locked on mine. We stopped there and stood, not really saying anything to each other. My legs were becoming jelly under his gaze, but I forced myself to stand up. It felt like he was piercing into my soul, the way his eyes searched my face, and I could barely make out the encrypted message in his. Suddenly, he smiled.

"We're here." He said, looking above me. I turned around and saw that he was right; we were right in front of a small house labeled "Blue Bar". I sighed and looked back at him, lost for words.

"I'll…. Uhm… Thanks…" I managed to get out before I disappeared into the bar.


End file.
